Occupy Saint Paul on Edward Snowden

Over the last couple of weeks, the Guardian and the Washington Post have published excerpts of documents provided by Edward Snowden showing both massive overreach and intrusion by the government and unhindered access to sensitive information by private contractors.

Occupy Saint Paul stands in solidarity with Edward Snowden and the right of We the People to hold our government responsible for the violations of the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution that were exposed. Furthermore, we reject the idea that the government and agencies outside the government can and/or should be given access to such information under the guise of “national security”. Giving away our rights to promote “security” is an idea abhorrent to us, as it should be to all citizens of this country.

As Benjamin Franklin famously stated, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” And, if we find such abuses of power, we should be free to publicly expose them without fear of prosecution. Therefore, we call for the dropping of espionage charges against Edward Snowden, and call for the search for him to be ended immediately.

Some say Edward Snowden is a traitor. We believe he really didn’t tell us anything that, if we were being honest with ourselves, we didn’t know already, or could have learned by simply reading and thinking critically about the reports we are able to gain access to. Instead, Edward Snowden should be thanked for starting a national dialog about so-called security vs our Constitutional rights.